Exaggerating or lying on social media can lead to what psychologists call 'digital amnesia', according to new research - meaning our memories of what really happens in our lives become blurred and compromised by the fake versions we put online.
What's more, as many as TWO THIRDS of us are guilty of twisting or "airbrushing" things that happen to us so they appear more interesting than they actually were.
It seems that, on networks such as Facebook and Twitter, many people ham-up or rewrite their memories and anecdotes... leading to feelings of paranoia and anxiety when our real-life image does not live up to our online one.
"Our need to document and share our lives is part of our nature and beneficial – but the strengths and drawbacks of social media need to be understood better by society," Dr Richard Sherry, clinical psychologist, tells the Daily Mail.
(Photo: Flickr/CollegeDegrees360)
"Recent studies show that memories are actually modified and less accurate whenever we 'retrieve' them from our minds, to the point of entirely changing their nature over time. Being competitive is normal. However, the dark side of this social conformity is when we negate what authentically feels to be 'us' to the degree that we no longer recognise the experience, our voice, the memory or the view of ourselves.
"When this starts to happen, feelings of guilt and distaste towards ourselves can create psychological problems, including anxiety. This can exacerbate certain personality traits which can become unhelpful, if not outright destructive."
New social networking site Pencourage ran a survey finding that one in 10 people have found that their actual real memories have been "distorted" by the version of events they put online. Unsurprisingly, it's young people who are most at risk of this happening.
(Photo: Facebook)
"Many studies have demonstrated that even the simple act of imagining a childhood event increases a person's confidence that the event happened to them in the past," Dr Sherry explained. "Researchers have demonstrated how readily false memories can form through the simple use of language. Even the phrasing of a narrative can shape how we later remember it."
It seems that people most often embellish their own truths because they fear being boring, or because they envy the apparently exciting lives their friends seem to be leading.
Looks like we could all do with honouring the lives we are living, without exaggerating them for effect online.
